SB165 H ED AM 2-28

The Committee on Education moves to amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"That §18A-4-10d and §18A-4-10f of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.

 §18A-4-10d. Use of personal leave days by surviving spouse in certain circumstances.
(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Surviving spouse" means an employee of a county board whose spouse was also employed by the same that county board at the time of his or her death; and
(2) "Deceased spouse" means a person who, at the time of his or her death, was employed by the same county board of education as his or her spouse.
(b) Beginning the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, a county board of education may For any death that occurred after the first day of January, two thousand seven, a county board shall credit a surviving spouse with any or all accrued personal leave days to which the deceased spouse was entitled at the time of his or her death, if the surviving spouse has ten or fewer accrued personal leave days. The credited leave may not be used: the death of the deceased spouse
(c) The provisions of this section only shall apply if all the following conditions are met:
(1) Both spouses were employed by the same county board of education at the time of the death of the deceased spouse;
(2) The deceased spouse had unused personal leave days which he or she was entitled to use;
(3) The surviving spouse is an active employee with less than five days accumulated personal leave;
(4) The death of the deceased spouse was by accident;
(5) It is determined by the county board, on evidence provided by a licensed physician, that the surviving spouse is physically disabled to work at the position held by the surviving spouse; and
(6) It is determined by the county board that the cause of the disability to the surviving spouse arose from the same accident that resulted in the death of the deceased spouse.
(d) The county board periodically shall review the status of the surviving spouse and, upon a determination of the county board that the surviving spouse is able to work at his or her assigned position, any personal leave days credited to the surviving spouse pursuant to the terms of this section shall be extinguished.
(e) Personal leave days credited to the surviving spouse pursuant to this section may be used only for the purposes of this section and may not be used for any other purpose, including, but not limited to the enhancement of retirement or health insurance benefits
(1) At any time when the surviving spouse has accrued personal leave days that he or she is entitled to use;
(2) To qualify for or add to service for any retirement system administered by the state; or
(3) To extend insurance coverage pursuant to section thirteen, article sixteen, chapter five of this code.
§18A-4-10f. Leave donation program.
(a) Definitions. --
For the purposes of this section and section ten of this article, the following words have the meanings specified unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(1) "Catastrophic medical emergency" means:
(A) A medical or physical condition that:
(A) (i) Incapacitates an employee or an immediate family member for whom the employee will provide care;
(B) (ii) Is likely to require the prolonged absence of the employee from duty; and
(C) (iii) Will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because the employee (i) has exhausted all accrued personal leave and (ii) either is not eligible to receive personal leave or has exhausted personal leave available from a leave bank established pursuant to this article; or
(B) The death of an immediate family member that:
(i) Will require the employee's absence from duty for any reason related to the death, including but not limited to, bereavement, making funeral arrangements and settling financial issues; and
(ii) Will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because the employee has exhausted all accrued personal leave and either is not eligible to receive personal leave or has exhausted personal leave available from a leave bank established pursuant to this article;
(2) "Employee" means a professional educator or school service person who is employed by a county board and entitled to accrue personal leave as a benefit of employment;
(3) "Donor employee" means a professional educator or school service person employed by a county board who voluntarily contributes personal leave to another designated employee; and
(4) "Receiving employee" means a professional educator or school service person employed by a county board who receives donated personal leave from another employee.
(b) Leave donation program. --
(1) In addition to any personal leave bank established pursuant to this article, a county board shall establish a leave donation program pursuant to which a donor employee may transfer accrued personal leave to the personal leave account of another designated employee.
(2) A county board:
(A) May not limit the number of personal leave days a donor employee may transfer to a receiving employee who is his or her spouse;
(B) May not limit the total number of personal leave days a receiving employee receives; and
(C) May limit the number of days a donor employee transfers to a receiving employee who is not his or her spouse; and
(D) Shall limit to ten the number of days a receiving employee may use for reasons related to the death of an immediate family member.
(c) Rule. --
(1) The county board shall adopt a rule to implement the program.
(2) The rule shall set forth at least the following conditions:
(A) The donor employee voluntarily agrees to the leave transfer;
(B) The donor employee selects the employee designated to receive the personal leave transferred; and
(C) The receiving employee requires additional personal leave because of a catastrophic medical emergency;
(D) The donated leave may not be used to:
(i) Qualify for or add to service for any retirement system administered by the state; or
(ii) Extend insurance coverage pursuant to section thirteen, article sixteen, chapter five of this code;
(E) Each personal leave day contributed:
(i) Shall be deducted from the number of personal leave days to which the donor employee is entitled by section ten of this article;
(ii) Shall not be deducted from the number of personal leave days without cause to which the donor employee is entitled if sufficient general personal leave days are otherwise available to the donor employee;
(iii) Shall be credited to the receiving employee as one full personal leave day;
(iv) May not be credited for more or less than a full day by calculating the value of the leave according to the hourly wage of each employee; and
(v) May be used only for an absence due to the purpose for which the leave was transferred. Personal leave transferred for the purpose of allowing a receiving employee to care for an immediate family member may be used for reasons related to the death of that immediate family member, as provided in subsection (a) of this section, i f the family member's death resulted from the medical or physical condition for which the leave was originally transferred.
(vi) Any transferred days remaining when the catastrophic medical emergency ends revert back to the donor employee. and Transferred days revert as full days only, and may result in donor employees failing to receive reverted days. If multiple donor employees transferred days to the receiving employee, any unused days revert proportionally among donor employees as the donation of each compares to the total number of days donated by all donor employees.
 (I) If division among multiple donor employees would result in fractions of days reverting to the donor employees, the highest number of the unused days that may be distributed as full days shall be distributed proportionally among the donor employees.
(II) Any remaining days, which would otherwise cause fractions of days to revert to donor employees, shall be distributed until exhausted as one full day each per donor employee ranked in descending order according to numbers of days transferred. If that remaining number of days is too few to allow all donors who have donated an equal number of days to receive an equal number of reverted days, then only that portion of remaining days that would be unequally distributed among donors with equal numbers of donated days is distributed until exhausted as full days among such equal donors ranked in chronological order beginning with the earliest date of donation.
(F) An employee may not be coerced or compelled to contribute to a leave donation program.